South Korea Activities

Cover of Korean Children's Favorite Stories.

History

Geography

Culture

Economics

Politics

Class Activities

Resources

Early Elementary

• Read Korean Children’s Favorite Stories, a collection of Korean folktales, and compare them to American folktales or European fairy tales.

• Read Bee-Bim Bop and discuss similarities and differences in traditions regarding food and family in Korea and the United States.

• Teach students some traditional Korean children’s songs and rhymes. Then have students make a song book and illustrate the songs. Songs can be found at http://www.mamalisa.com/?p=972&t=ec&c=140

Late Elementary

• Weather and Climate in South Korea Students compare weather in two opposite cities. In this weather analysis lesson, students create line graphs for the weather patterns of South Korea and their hometown. Students write up comparisons between the different cities. (http://www.lessonplanet.com/search?grade_ids%5B%5D=249&keywords=South+Korea&media=lesson&page=1)

Jaegi is a Korean version of hacky sack.

• Comparing Korea to where I live Students identify geographical features of Korea using a map. In this Korea lesson plan, students locate Korea, describe geographical features, explain the importance of natural resources, and identify the location of Korea relative to the rest of Asia.
  (http://www.lessonplanet.com/search?grade_ids%5B%5D=249&keywords=South+Korea&media=lesson&page=1)

• Teach students to how to make and play Jaegi. This is a traditional game that young Korean children play in the winter. This game has many variations: you can kick the jaegi with two feet only, hold it on the foot before kicking it, or use only the outside of the foot. Students can make their own Korean Hacky Sack at
  http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/do/jaegi.html

Fine Arts

Lotus lanterns are decorations used to celebrate the birth of Buddha.

• Have students learn about South Korea’s Lotus Lantern Festival, which is held each year to celebrate the birth of Buddha, founder of the Buddhist religion. Then, make your own lotus lanterns to celebrate! Directions for making lanterns can be found at http://kimchicrew.com/lotus-lantern/

• Students can learn about the Korean alphabet known as Hanguel, which is similar to Chinese characters (Hanja). Students can then practice writing different Korean characters and for a final product, write their name or a short poem on a scroll in their best Korean script. Information about the Korean alphabet can be found http://www.omniglot.com/writing/korean.htm and http://www.learnkoreanlanguage.com/learn-hangul.html.

Kite-flying is very popular in South Korea.

• Students learn about the history of kites and make their own by visiting http://www.intime.uni.edu/video/025iaue/2rus/lesson.htm.

Additional learning activities for home

• Rainbow Kids has several South Korea-themed coloring pages featuring musical instruments, daily life, traditional clothing, sports and food. Visit http://www.rainbowkids.com/HTMLFiles.aspx?page=KoreaAct

• eThemes from the University of Missouri lists links that feature South Korea’s geography, climate, history, and culture for grades 2-6. Visit http://ethemes.missouri.edu/themes/1452

• eHow features several articles that describe South Korea crafts for kids such as making and decorating paper fans, paper dolls and musical instruments. Visit http://www.ehow.com/list_6002081_south-korea-crafts-kids.html and http://www.ehow.com/list_6809759_korean-arts-crafts-kids.html

• AsianInfo provides detailed information about traditional arts and handicrafts made throughout Korea’s history. Visit http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/korea/scu/introduction.htm

• Easy Korean Food features simple recipes that introduce you to traditional Korean foods like Kimchi and Korean barbecue. Visit http://www.easykoreanfood.com/

Please feel free to suggest other web sites you discover about any and all aspects of South Korea!

Last updated May 9, 2012. Copyright (c) 2012. Henrietta Moody. All rights reserved. Please contact hemoody@facemail.com with any questions.